DIY Pom Bouquet: How-To

Welcome to my first blog post! To start things out, I'd love to share a fun DIY that will add some autumn color to your home. This yarn pom bouquet is easy and inexpensive to make. Here's what you'll need...

THE SUPPLIES:

• A good pair of scissors
• Sturdy yet skinny sticks (For this project, I actually used leftover reeds from a scented oil dispenser, but there are many sticks available at craft stores also)
• Yarn in your choice of colors (I used some autumn shades of Lion's Brand Wool Ease leftover from one of my many knitting projects)

THE STEPS:

1. Start by anchoring the end of the yarn in between two of your fingers.

2. Next, start wrapping the yarn snugly around your fingers. Try to spread your fingers apart slightly while wrapping the yarn so that it's easy to slide off later.

3. Keep wrapping until you have a small bundle of yarn around your fingers. The more yarn you use, the fuller and fluffier your pom will be. There's no need to count your wraps: you can just estimate, and your poms will all turn out in nearly identical sizes.

4. After cutting the yarn at the end of your bundle, cut a separate piece of yarn 8-12 inches in length. This will be used to tie your pom together.

5. Slip the new piece of yarn between two of your fingers. This is the most difficult step: if you're having trouble, try sliding the bundle toward your fingertips a little bit.

6. Wrap the piece of yarn between your fingers around both sides of the bundle, and tie a single knot. Slip the bundle off your fingers carefully and tie the knot as tight as possible. Flip to the other side of the bundle and tie another knot. Repeat the knotting a few times, ending with a double knot. You want your bundle nice and secure so that strands don't fall out of your pom!

Once tied, your pom will look like this:

Now, to turn that bundle into a pom:

7. It's time to begin cutting the pom. Slip your scissors in the loops you've made and start snipping them evenly in two. Cut all the way around the pom.

8. Your pom should now look like this. Cut any loops you may have missed and fluff the strands with your fingers.

9. Now, start trimming the strands so that they are all the same length. Optional: Keep the strands from the longer piece of yarn: they'll help you secure the stick in the next steps. 

10. Once the pom is trimmed to your liking, take one of your sticks. Push it into the center of the pom where you knotted it in step 6. If you like, you can put a little bit of glue on the end of the stick first to help keep it in place.

11. Instead of using glue, I take the two tails left on my pom and tie them around the stick to secure it.

12. Trim the yarn tails-- your pom is now complete! Repeat these steps to make as many poms as you like. You might experiment with different colors, different sizes, or even multicolored poms!

Once all of your poms are made, it's time to arrange them in a vase. You may want to trim a few of the sticks to vary the height of your poms:

Then, just put your poms in your favorite vase! How pretty would these be for a fall wedding? Or how about for a Thanksgiving centerpiece?

Hope you've enjoyed this first DIY project on my new blog! Share any other ideas you have for pom crafts in the comments, or let me know what you think about this craft :)

-Megan